Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Conduct Of Toronto Cardinal Thomas Collins Not "Worthy Of A Christian"

Within the body of the Church Herself is a “perverse lust
for self-destruction” according
to retired Vatican Cardinal Walter Brandmueller. The Cardinal recently gave
an interview in Germany and spoke candidly about the widespread dissent of
Germany's Catholic Bishops. Perhaps one of our intrepid Canadian Catholic media
could engage our own Cardinal Collins in a similar conversation about Canada's
schismatic Bishops.

The Vatican Cardinal’s remarks zeroed in on the agenda of
too many Bishops of "undermining the procreation
of life in different ways and in putting into question the natural sexual
identity of man and woman." Clearly this is a direct reference to decades
old opposition to the Church's teaching on contraception vis a vis Humanae
Vitae with its consequent epidemic of abortion, divorce, homosexuality
and gender ideology.

It is well known that the Catholic Bishops of Germany have from the very beginning laid siege to that watershed 1968
papal encyclical. But unfortunately an unofficial schism took place not only in
Germany
as a result of such rebellion. In Canada
it played
out likewise in mirror fashion—and in time. The same playbook was used,
that of the autonomy of conscience.

A policy of adherence to "political correctness"—rather
than doctrine—by
the Catholic Bishops has become predominant in Canada, just exactly as Cardinal
Brandmueller describes, because of the risk of "execution by the Media."
[Or was it perhaps also due to cowardice in facing the huge numbers of rank and
file Catholics practicing the intrinsic evil of contraception?] Our own
Cardinal Collins fits
well into this PC scheme, although he does fancy—and often likes to portray—himself
as an orthodox prelate.

But in fact Cardinal Collins has slipped into that same
“dynamic of silence" which characterizes the majority of Bishops
referenced by Cardinal Brandmueller, as they "silently watch the
execution" taking place. Apparently the Vatican Cardinal holds to the same
opinion as do I, that no one can claim “such conduct is worthy of a
Christian...especially when dealing with fundamental questions concerning the
teaching of Faith and Morals of the Gospel of Christ.”

He explains further by way of questioning: “For what purpose
did we [Bishops] receive the Sacrament of Confirmation?” and again, “...did not
the Bishops at their consecration promise that they would proclaim faithfully
the Gospel of Christ and would preserve, pure and entire, the Deposit of the
Faith according to the Tradition as held by the Church, always and everywhere?”

Why then does Cardinal Collins—as well as possibly every
other Bishop in Canada—maintain such a silence about Humanae Vitae in his current Toronto Diocese and in his former
Diocese of Edmonton? Why, in the midst of such a "self-destructive
crisis" as Cardinal Brandmueller describes, would Cardinal Collins hold
his peace, never issuing even so much as a pastoral letter to his sheep on this
linchpin issue of chastity in similar
fashion to other
conscientious and truly orthodox Western
Bishops who have made efforts
to curb the crisis and protect
the souls of those under their care?

If the Cardinal’s courage be lacking, then why would he not
simply and very briefly include the clear truth of Catholic teaching regarding
the intrinsic evil of this practice on an Examination of Conscience brochure
which the Diocese already publishes for his flagship Day
of Confessions? Or why, during a recent
exercise of lectio divina, on the
subject of marriage and children, would he not expound on the Church's position,
failing to make even one direct reference to Humanae Vitae and warn of the evils of contraception? Or why would he
be seen to be a slacker on protecting Catholic children from
"sex-ed," one of the evil fruits of the sexual revolution, even to
the extent of stonewalling parents and cooperating
with governing sexual perverts in the dissemination of ever-more evil
programs to destroy chastity? It appears that Protestants
must lead the charge to expose this evil.

It strains the imagination to come to any explanation other
than the one proposed by Cardinal Brandmueller who went yet further and called
for a “de-secularization” of the Church, demanding a flight from worldly
thinking and contrivances to instead “follow the Truth of the Faith.”
Insisting that Bishops be a sign of contradiction to the culture at large
rather than “preaching ‘Christianity light’...we should have the courage to
demand a program which is in firm contrast to the societal mainstream of today
and lives out fully” the commandments.

In a final exhortation, ready-made for Toronto's failing
prelate, Cardinal Brandmueller exclaimed, “The Church can and must
proclaim the Natural Moral Law which has been perfected by the Gospels and
which is understandable for the man of good will...Thereby, the Church should
not allow herself to be deflected by the [growing] resistance
against her message.”

Cardinal Collins must repent of his failures publicly, make
amends and immediately undertake a reformation
of his Diocese in order to turn back the effects of this
"self-destructive" rebellion of which he continues to be a part.
Either that or RESIGN and make way for a worthy
prelate who will undertake a reconstruction of an authentic
Catholicism in Toronto diocese.